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Latest news and features from theguardian.com, the world's leading liberal voiceen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Sun, 02 Aug 2015 18:52:03 GMT2015-08-02T18:52:03Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
The Guardian view on Amnesty International’s call to legalise sex work: divisive and distracting | Editorialhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/guardian-view-amnesty-international-call-to-legalise-sex-work-divisive-and-distracting
Irrespective of whether the sex trade should be legalised for adults, this is not a policy question for human rights organisations<p>Amnesty International is one of the great organisations of the modern world. Few can have done more to establish the simple propositions that human rights matter and that they matter for everyone. It has exalted&nbsp;the lowly and brought down the mighty from their seats. And it is poised to make a serious mistake.</p><p>The organisation’s international council meeting in Dublin which starts on Friday this week <a href="http://www.amnesty.org.uk/consultation-draft-policy" title="">will consider a motion</a> urging that sex work be decriminalised. This is in itself a contestable position. There are <a href="http://www.catwinternational.org/" title="">many feminists</a> who recoil from it. The letter signed by <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/11770820/Sex-work-battle-Hollywood-actresses-v-Amnesty-International.html" title="">film actors</a> who are normally reliable allies of Amnesty shows how damaging it is. On the other hand there is a body of professional opinion quoted in <a href="https://www.amnesty.se/upload/files/2014/04/02/Summary%20of%20proposed%20policy%20on%20sex%20work.pdf" title="">the Amnesty proposal</a>, which argues that decriminalising sex work minimises the harm&nbsp;done to sex workers and allows it to be more effectively regulated.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/guardian-view-amnesty-international-call-to-legalise-sex-work-divisive-and-distracting">Continue reading...</a>ProstitutionSex tradeSocietyAmnesty InternationalWorld newsSun, 02 Aug 2015 18:32:14 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/guardian-view-amnesty-international-call-to-legalise-sex-work-divisive-and-distractingPhotograph: /AlamySex worker in Milan, Italy. 'The suggestion that the trade be legalised but not then regulated is particularly far off beam. Since when did unregulated markets guarantee human rights?' Photograph: AlamyPhotograph: /AlamySex worker in Milan, Italy. 'The suggestion that the trade be legalised but not then regulated is particularly far off beam. Since when did unregulated markets guarantee human rights?' Photograph: AlamyEditorial2015-08-02T18:32:14ZThe Guardian view on population control: empowering women may not save the environment | Editorialhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/the-guardian-view-on-population-control-empowering-women-may-not-save-the-environment
Rich people have smaller families but consume more resources. Curbing population growth is not on its own going to help the planet<p>The United Nations has published its <a href="http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/" title="">latest projections</a> for world population. It predicts that the current 7.3bn people on the planet will reach 8.5bn in 2030, and could be 11.2bn at the end of the century. India is expected to overtake China as the most populous country.</p><p>The annually updated forecasts are fuel for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/datablog/2009/sep/02/world-population-growth-resources-control" title="">a strengthening argument</a> that growing population is a critical environmental issue. The logic is simple: increasing numbers of people multiplied by higher average consumption from wood fuel to mobile phones and intensively farmed meat is a double whammy for the environment. The results are depleted raw materials and polluted soil, water and air. Greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change, specifically carbon dioxide, are the common measurement of this relationship. So persuasive is the strand of thought that it has attracted backing from respected public figures such as Sir David Attenborough, Jonathon Porritt and Chris Packham. But it is flawed.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/the-guardian-view-on-population-control-empowering-women-may-not-save-the-environment">Continue reading...</a>PopulationWorld newsUnited NationsWomenLife and styleChinaAsia PacificIndiaSouth and Central AsiaSun, 02 Aug 2015 18:32:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/the-guardian-view-on-population-control-empowering-women-may-not-save-the-environmentPhotograph: Afolabi Sotunde/REUTERSChildren in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. 'It is in the very poorest countries where women have the most children, on average. And where population growth slows, generally economic growth speeds up, and carbon emissions rise faster.' Photograph: Afolabi Sotunde/ReutersPhotograph: Afolabi Sotunde/REUTERSChildren in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. 'It is in the very poorest countries where women have the most children, on average. And where population growth slows, generally economic growth speeds up, and carbon emissions rise faster.' Photograph: Afolabi Sotunde/ReutersEditorial2015-08-02T18:32:00ZWith miscarriage, there are many routes to shame | Zoe Williamshttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/social-media-miscarriage-mark-zuckerberg-pregnancy
Mark Zuckerberg is right to challenge the taboos surrounding pregnancy. But the pressure on women remains intense<p>‘<a href="https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10102276576050141" title="">Most people don’t discuss miscarriages because you </a>worry your problems will distance you or reflect upon you – as if you’re defective or did something to cause this,” <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/31/mark-zuckerberg-wife-expecting-baby-girl" title="">wrote Mark Zuckerberg, announcing his wife’s pregnancy</a>, after three miscarriages. In the open letter, he continued: “In today’s open and connected world, discussing these issues doesn’t distance us; it brings us together. It creates understanding and tolerance, and it gives us hope.” It is not strange at all that the inventor of Facebook would think social media had a new answer to a problem as old as humankind. What would be strange is if he were right: what if that’s true? What if this taboo were to be overturned by the internet? What would the implications of that be, for all other taboos, for all other hopes?</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/31/mark-zuckerberg-wife-expecting-baby-girl">Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and wife expecting a baby girl</a> </p><p>The modern narrative around pregnancy and childbirth makes it more difficult to be open</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/social-media-miscarriage-mark-zuckerberg-pregnancy">Continue reading...</a>PregnancyHealth & wellbeingFamilyParents and parentingLife and styleMark ZuckerbergFacebookMediaSocial networkingTechnologyWorld newsSun, 02 Aug 2015 17:18:28 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/social-media-miscarriage-mark-zuckerberg-pregnancyPhotograph: /GuardianIllustration by Jasper RietmanPhotograph: /GuardianIllustration by Jasper RietmanZoe Williams2015-08-02T17:18:28ZCalais will haunt Cameron – it gives EU ‘outs’ the perfect showreel | Matthew d’Anconahttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/calais-haunt-cameron-eu-referendum-showreel
Footage of young men running at lorries, trying to make it to England at any price, will be abused by those who think Britain has lost control of its destiny<p>So ends the honeymoon: the turmoil in Calais and its consequences in Kent have finally <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/30/david-cameron-migrant-swarm-language-condemned" title="">dragged David Cameron</a> from the election winner’s podium down to political ground level and a harsh audit of his response to the cross-Channel crisis.</p><p>Labour, of course, is distracted to the point of irrelevance, squirming in a chrysalis that occasionally assumes the shape of a fossil. The most that the party’s interim leader, Harriet Harman, has mustered so far is a letter to Cameron, demanding that compensation be sought from France for those who have been inconvenienced. Hardly raises the pulse, does it?</p><p>The referendum will be a competition of warnings, a contest of threats rather than of dreams</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/01/calais-camp-migrants-abandon-uk-learn-french">Calais migrants abandon plans for life in UK and start learning French</a> </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/calais-haunt-cameron-eu-referendum-showreel">Continue reading...</a>EU referendumMigrationDavid CameronEuropean UnionForeign policyPoliticsUK newsEuropeWorld newsSun, 02 Aug 2015 16:51:51 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/calais-haunt-cameron-eu-referendum-showreelPhotograph: Yui Mok/PAMigrants at Calais. 'The proposition that Brexit would stop them in their tracks shows a heartbreaking lack of understanding of human nature.' Photograph: Yui Mok/PAPhotograph: Yui Mok/PAMigrants at Calais. 'The proposition that Brexit would stop them in their tracks shows a heartbreaking lack of understanding of human nature.' Photograph: Yui Mok/PAMatthew d'Ancona2015-08-02T16:51:51ZHow I stopped worrying and learned to love summer holidays with the kids | Alice O’Keeffehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/summer-holidays-kids-childcare
The prospect of six childcare-free weeks sends some people into a planning frenzy. But my sons and I have found a blank slate can be brilliant fun<p>A few weeks ago, if you’d asked me to pick a word to express my feelings about the impending summer holidays, I would have had no hesitation: dread. Last summer was beyond a nightmare. I was settling into a new job, and we decided to move house too. This was in the middle of August, so for the entire duration of the move – the endless paperwork, the packing, the actual moving and the unpacking – we had no regular childcare at all for our two kids, who were then four and just-turned-two.</p><p>The trauma was such that I have retained only a few scattered memories – the moment the removal guy turned up with a van that was half the size it should have been, for example; the time I full-on cried in front of the gas man. What I do know is that by September my partner and I were physically and emotionally broken. The day I dropped my older son off for his first day at school I wept hot tears of joy.</p><p>By the time the holidays started a week-and-a-half ago, I had booked five half-hour swimming lessons. And that was it</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/summer-holidays-kids-childcare">Continue reading...</a>ChildrenSocietySummer holidaysFamily holidaysChildcareParents and parentingFamilyLife and styleUK newsSun, 02 Aug 2015 14:23:43 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/summer-holidays-kids-childcarePhotograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA‘When I thought about the six childcare-free weeks<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jul/16/playschemes-and-affordable-summer-childcare-getting-harder-to-find"> </a>stretching all the way to autumn, I would experience an unpleasant little bump in my heart-rate.’Alice O'Keeffe2015-08-02T14:23:43ZWhat better alternative to the Lords than an elected second chamber in Glasgow? | Kezia Dugdalehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/house-of-lords-second-chamber-glasgow-commons
<p>The House of Lords is a democratic outrage, but the power of the Commons cannot be left unchecked. By shifting location we can start to shake up the political machine</p><p>The age of deference is well and truly dead. Previously revered institutions are no longer held in the same unquestioning respect. In every corner of society once opaque bodies have had to embrace modernisation and transparency in order to survive.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/02/kezia-dugdale-corbyn-win-leave-labour-carping-sidelines-years">Kezia Dugdale: Corbyn win could leave Labour 'carping on sidelines for years'</a> </p><p>The SNP has been long an opponent of the Lords, but never a proponent of what should take its place</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/28/david-cameron-to-appoint-more-tory-peers-to-the-house-of-lords">David Cameron to appoint more Tory peers to the House of Lords</a> </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/house-of-lords-second-chamber-glasgow-commons">Continue reading...</a>Lords reformHouse of LordsLabourScottish National party (SNP)PoliticsGlasgowScotlandUK newsSun, 02 Aug 2015 14:00:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/house-of-lords-second-chamber-glasgow-commonsPhotograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesPeers await the state opening of parliament. ‘Who could say in all honesty that if we were starting from scratch we would draw the current system?’ Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesPeers await the state opening of parliament. ‘Who could say in all honesty that if we were starting from scratch we would draw the current system?’ Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesKezia Dugdale2015-08-02T14:00:05ZWhy I waited until I was 24 to buy my first bikini | Sarah Galohttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/i-waited-until-24-to-buy-first-bikini
<p> It’s not easy to shed the religious teachings one grew up with, but I’ve begun to let go of the harmful teachings about my body and the value of “purity” </p><p>Bikinis are for honeymoons. Or so I was told as a child when I asked my mom why I couldn’t get a two-piece bathing suit like everyone else. “Only your husband should see your body like that. That’s the way God made it,” my mom told, continuing to fold the laundry. </p><p>The assumption is absurd now, but then, at four or five, I shrugged and went back to wearing my Lion King one-piece without complaint. If God made my body - my abdomen, mind you in this scenario - for only my husband to see, who I was to argue?</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/i-waited-until-24-to-buy-first-bikini">Continue reading...</a>Life and styleWomenChristianityReligionFashionSummerSun, 02 Aug 2015 12:15:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/i-waited-until-24-to-buy-first-bikiniPhotograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesNo more tankinis or one-piece suits this summer.Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesNo more tankinis or one-piece suits this summer.Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPhotograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesSarah Galo2015-08-02T12:15:03ZWhen we give up a faith, we grieve for the community we leave behind | Brandon G Withrowhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/give-up-faith-grieve-community-secular
<p>Stepping away from a faith isn’t just a belief sea change. It’s also a large loss – of culture, and sometimes family</p><p>You’ve likely heard the numbers by now. Approximately <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/">23% of Americans</a> are religiously unaffiliated (atheist, agnostic and “nothing in particular”). This demographic is expected to <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/north-america/">double by 2050</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22the+nones%22+unaffiliated+site%3A.edu&amp;safe=off&amp;biw=1280&amp;bih=616&amp;source=lnt&amp;tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F2015%2Ccd_max%3A7%2F31%2F2015&amp;tbm=#q=%22the+nones%22+unaffiliated+site:.edu&amp;safe=off&amp;tbs=qdr:y">Academia</a> and the <a href="https://news.vice.com/article/millennials-and-the-nones-why-40-years-of-religion-in-us-elections-may-change-in-2016">media</a> are obsessed with this variegated and poorly understood group and how the growing numbers will play out in American society – and with good reason. Transformation on this scale is a type of national existential crisis and, in this case, it’s entangled with the nation’s historical Puritan ideal of being God’s “<a href="http://www.newsmax.com/JackieGingrich/City-Hill-Kennedy-Reagan/2013/06/17/id/510371/">shining city on a hill</a>.”</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/28/gay-liberal-convert-to-christianity">I'm gay, liberal, open-minded – and a convert to Christianity | Jonathan Elliott</a> </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/give-up-faith-grieve-community-secular">Continue reading...</a>ReligionCommunitiesSocietyFamilySun, 02 Aug 2015 12:00:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/give-up-faith-grieve-community-secularPhotograph: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty ImagesThere is a comfort inherent in being part of a united faith community.Brandon G Withrow2015-08-02T12:00:04ZFamous last words? Say them now, before it’s too late | Oscar Ricketthttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/famous-last-words-oscar-wilde-pithy
None of us is Oscar Wilde, so if you would like your last words to be memorable some preparation may be in order<p>I was at a funeral recently. The woman who had died had reached her ninth decade and had been a wonderfully kind lady. In the eulogy her son remarked that she had seen her death coming; that it was the best kind of death and one that would not be available to most of us. She had prepared herself for the end and had been able to say what she needed to say to the people she loved.</p><p>Oscar Wilde's last words were: 'My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go'</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/jan/10/epitaphs">Famous last words</a> </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/famous-last-words-oscar-wilde-pithy">Continue reading...</a>Death and dyingOscar WildeKarl MarxLife and styleCultureSun, 02 Aug 2015 11:00:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/famous-last-words-oscar-wilde-pithyPhotograph: REX Shutterstock/REX Shutterstock‘The deathbed scene is where we impart one final piece of wisdom, settle one final score or say something so witty that our erudition will be celebrated for years to come.’ Photograph: Rex/ ShutterstockPhotograph: REX Shutterstock/REX Shutterstock‘The deathbed scene is where we impart one final piece of wisdom, settle one final score or say something so witty that our erudition will be celebrated for years to come.’ Photograph: Rex/ ShutterstockOscar Rickett2015-08-02T11:00:04ZNothing prepares you for being the daughter of ageing parentshttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/nothing-prepares-you-daughter-ageing-parents-jackie-kay
<p>There are classes for the mothers of babies, but there’s no helping with your mum and dad growing old</p><p>Old people’s wards are hell for old people. Geriatric wards are bedlam, bonkers, bananas. A toothless woman screaming when left alone, a cry that reaches the high hospital ceiling. A woman effing and blinding – the polite curtain will not protect her from the indignity of a nappy change. A woman who lives the same moment in repeat, dressed up for going home in a bright red anorak, over the dressing gown, asking for the key to her house, saying over and over: “Am I going home today?” Or a woman who shouts at the nurses: “Stop treating me like a plate of mince.”</p><p>Earlier this year, my parents both ended up in hospital at around the same time and the cause was the same thing. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/antibiotics" title="">Antibiotics</a>. Or rather, dehydration caused by antibiotics. My mum was first; she was so dehydrated she was having visions. Antibiotics revolutionised the treatment of bacterial infections in the 20th century – but for old people they can dry the kidneys, give them fever, nausea, nerve damage and affect their&nbsp;balance.</p><p>The acute assessment unit was like Dante’s vision of hell: abandon all hope, ye who enter here</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/nothing-prepares-you-daughter-ageing-parents-jackie-kay">Continue reading...</a>HealthSocietySun, 02 Aug 2015 06:00:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/nothing-prepares-you-daughter-ageing-parents-jackie-kayPhotograph: Barry Diomede/AlamyAn elderly patient awaits treatment. ‘Nothing prepares you for being the daughter of ageing parents.’ Photograph: Barry Diomede/AlamyPhotograph: Barry Diomede/AlamyAn elderly patient awaits treatment. ‘Nothing prepares you for being the daughter of ageing parents.’ Photograph: Barry Diomede/AlamyJackie Kay2015-08-02T06:00:07ZThere can be no amnesty for those who buy sex – not even if women ‘consent’ | Esohe Aghatisehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/sex-trade-amnesty-vote
<p>As an organisation that seeks to ‘<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/who-we-are/">respect international law</a>’, why is Amnesty International ignoring the law as it relates to prostitution and sex trafficking?</p><p>This week, in Dublin, about 500 Amnesty International delegates from more than 80 countries will vote on <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/202126121/Amnesty-Prostitution-Policy-document#scribd" title="">a proposal on prostitution</a> that would recommend decriminalising both the selling and buying of sex, as well as pimping and brothel-keeping. The supposed logic is that gender equality exists to the extent that prostitution is a consensual act, but also that buying sex from women in prostitution is an important human right for some men to improve “<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/202126121/Amnesty-Prostitution-Policy-document#scribd" title="">their life enjoyment and dignity</a>”.</p><p>As somebody who has worked for several decades with prostitutes, I know exactly what “consent” means in the context of the sex trade. The vast majority of women enter it in the absence of real choices. Many are children – or were children when they first supposedly consented to it.</p><p>Legalisation of the sex trade has failed spectacularly where it has been introduced</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/sex-trade-amnesty-vote">Continue reading...</a>Sex tradeAmnesty InternationalSocietyWorld newsUK newsSat, 01 Aug 2015 23:09:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/sex-trade-amnesty-votePhotograph: Dominic Lipinski/PAThe vast majority of women enter the sex trade in the absence of real choicesEsohe Aghatise2015-08-01T23:09:05ZWhy Jeremy Corbyn seems like the real deal | Sonia Sodhahttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/jeremy-corbyn-real-deal-labour-leadership
The leader in Labour’s leadership exudes authenticity, unlike his opponents<p>We are perhaps getting used to political phenomena that defy expectations and demand we re-examine the world afresh: the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/21/how-alex-salmond-nicola-sturgeon-pulled-off-political-triumph-lifetime">SNP’s rapid rise</a> that seemed to so many to come out of nowhere; the surprise election result that so few predicted. But the latest shock to flout the rules – <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/24/why-labour-voters-are-turning-towards-jeremy-corbyn">Jeremy Corbyn, the far-left candidate</a> in Labour’s leadership election, is now the one to beat – is perhaps the greatest yet.</p><p>Superficially, Labour looks like a party rehashing a debate it had in the 1980s: to be a party of pure socialist principle or a party of government? But on a closer look, there is an odder dynamic at play: Corbyn is gaining ground as the other three candidates compete to be the moderate of choice, while failing to address head on Corbyn’s challenge or even to understand the forces driving it.</p><p>Farage and Corbyn may hail from opposite ends of the political spectrum, but they have two things in common</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/02/the-labour-party-and-the-shifting-centre-ground-of-politics-in-the-uk">The Labour party and the shifting centre ground of politics in the UK | Letters</a> </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/jeremy-corbyn-real-deal-labour-leadership">Continue reading...</a>Jeremy CorbynPoliticsUK newsLabour party leadershipLabourNigel FarageUK Independence party (Ukip)Sat, 01 Aug 2015 23:08:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/jeremy-corbyn-real-deal-labour-leadershipPhotograph: Christian Sinibaldi for the GuardianJeremy Corbyn is now the man to beat. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The GuardianPhotograph: Christian Sinibaldi for the GuardianJeremy Corbyn is now the man to beat. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The GuardianSonia Sodha2015-08-01T23:08:05ZWhy Obama doesn’t understand the lust for power of our African leaders | Patience Akumuhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/africa-ageing-leaders-barack-obama
These ‘big men’ argue that human rights is a western concept, writes an award-winning east African journalist<p>Even before the dust could settle on President Barack Obama’s <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/28/barack-obama-africas-presidents-for-life-are-a-risk-to-its-democratic-progress" title="">candid criticism of African presidents</a> who manipulate their constitutions so that they can stay longer in power, Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni – once the west’s model of a truly democratic leader – was on his way again to contest the presidential seat he has held for 30 years. From Rwanda to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi to Zimbabwe, Africa’s big men replied to Obama: this oppression – the shackles, the poverty and indignity – are what the African people have chosen. Tedros Adhanom, the foreign minister of Ethiopia, home of the African Union, defended African leaders who cling to power, saying: “Because they made the law, they can change the law.”</p><p>Museveni was echoing the actions of Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and indeed all African leaders who have sought to manipulate the law for a chance at eternal presidency. Adhanom proposed that the extension of term limits was acceptable if it had popular support. It is this type of apologist politics that has kept Africa in its current state – a continent of people who accept lacklustre leaders in the belief that there is a miraculous star shining somewhere at the end of the tunnel of bad leadership. It is this desperate need to cling to power, for no apparent reason and to no end, that Obama does not understand.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/africa-ageing-leaders-barack-obama">Continue reading...</a>Barack ObamaAfricaDemocratic Republic of the CongoEthiopiaBurundiZimbabweYoweri MuseveniSat, 01 Aug 2015 23:05:06 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/africa-ageing-leaders-barack-obamaPhotograph: Mulugeta Ayene/APBarack Obama delivers a speech to members of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 28 July. Photograph: Mulugeta Ayene/APPhotograph: Mulugeta Ayene/APBarack Obama delivers a speech to members of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 28 July. Photograph: Mulugeta Ayene/APPatience Akumu2015-08-01T23:05:06ZA new political lexiconhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2015/aug/02/a-new-political-lexicon
<p>Chris Riddell’s handy primer on modern expressions<br></p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2015/aug/02/a-new-political-lexicon">Continue reading...</a>Immigration and asylumRefugeesPoliticsPropertyMoneyUK newsWorld newsSat, 01 Aug 2015 23:05:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2015/aug/02/a-new-political-lexiconPhotograph: Chris Riddell for the ObserverChris Riddell2015-08-01T23:05:05ZThe Observer view on the future of the BBC | Observer editorialhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/observer-view-bbc-funding-cuts-jeremy-clarkson
The BBC is by no measure a global player, but it must jealously guard its hard-earned creative reputation<p>The BBC is too big, say critics and circling politicians. It needs to be cut down to size; &pound;5bn a year from the licence fee and overseas sales makes it too powerful… Yet when Corporation chiefs murmur about competing with Apple (revenue last year: &pound;111bn) there are snorts of derision. That’s comparing red, ripe apples with small, green pears. But note how quickly such metaphors turn to windfalls.</p><p>Twelve months ago, <em>Top Gear</em> was the BBC’s golden delicious: raising &pound;50m worldwide, making Clarkson and his team some of the richest TV performers in Britain. But then he biffed a producer and the BBC decided he had to go. “A move from a biplane to spaceship,” he boasts inevitably. Goodbye, Portland Place: hello, Amazon, with its &pound;57bn or so in revenue. The budget per episode – for a car show without a name – looks almost three times the &pound;1.5m the BBC could afford.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/observer-view-bbc-funding-cuts-jeremy-clarkson">Continue reading...</a>BBCTelevisionMediaBBC licence feeTop GearUK newsSat, 01 Aug 2015 23:05:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/observer-view-bbc-funding-cuts-jeremy-clarksonPhotograph: Graham Turner for the GuardianBBC Broadcasting House in London. Photograph: Graham Turner/The GuardianPhotograph: Graham Turner for the GuardianBBC Broadcasting House in London. Photograph: Graham Turner/The GuardianObserver editorial2015-08-01T23:05:05ZThe Observer view on global mining regulationhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/observer-view-global-mining-industry-regulation
The suffering of communities in Zambia’s copper mining region highlights the need to create a global regulatory regime<p>The appalling suffering of villagers living close to the mining town of Chingola, in Zambia’s copperbelt region, whose water supplies have been dangerously polluted by leaks of sulphuric acid and other toxic chemicals, is both avoidable and unacceptable. As we report today, the Chingola pollution and associated environmental damage has led to serious health problems for those affected, such as potential organ failure, cancers and permanent disabilities, as well as failed crops, loss of earnings and livelihoods.</p><p>This continuing toll on life and well-being is wholly avoidable, in part because the problems associated with Vedanta Resources’ giant mine at Chingola have been common knowledge for some years.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/observer-view-global-mining-industry-regulation">Continue reading...</a>MiningEnvironmentMiningBusinessAfricaWorld newsZambiaSat, 01 Aug 2015 23:05:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/observer-view-global-mining-industry-regulationPhotograph: Sanjit Das/PanosWomen walk through a field near a Vedanta plant in Lanjigarh, eastern India. Photograph: Sanjit Das/PanosPhotograph: Sanjit Das/PanosWomen walk through a field near a Vedanta plant in Lanjigarh, eastern India. Photograph: Sanjit Das/PanosGuardian Staff2015-08-01T23:05:05ZLabour is really two parties. And they simply can’t stand each other | Andrew Rawnsleyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/labour-split-corbyn-blairites
<p>So are the Conservatives. It is only the electoral system that stops them both from splitting</p><p>We were wrong, all of us. Tories, Labourites and those of us who monitor the political climate, we all thought that the major weather event of the first half of this parliament was going to be the split on the right. When David Cameron returned to Number 10, the tempest everyone prepared for was the Conservative civil war over Europe. As it turns out, the tornado has blown in from the other side of the political compass. The big story is the split on the left.</p><p>This has been a most enjoyable surprise to the Tories. After snatching a parliamentary majority very few of them thought possible before the early hours of 8 May, now the Conservatives are gifted a Labour party eating itself. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33745731" title="">The Corbyn bandwagon</a> has astonished Labour MPs, not least those who nominated the MP for Islington North only to keep the leftier activists in their constituency parties happy or to truckle for support in the parallel contest to be candidate for London mayor or because they wrongly thought he was the sacrificial candidate of the hard left whose only role was to be ritually slaughtered.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/labour-split-corbyn-blairites">Continue reading...</a>PoliticsLabourElectoral reformUK newsJeremy CorbynSat, 01 Aug 2015 23:04:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/labour-split-corbyn-blairitesPhotograph: /David LeveneJeremy Corbyn has taken many MPs by surprise. Photograph: David LevenePhotograph: /David LeveneJeremy Corbyn has taken many MPs by surprise. Photograph: David LeveneAndrew Rawnsley2015-08-01T23:04:07ZMourning Cecil the lion – or just trying to look good? | Barbara Ellenhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/cecil-lion-hunting-mourning-andy-burnham-obesity
This is how many people ‘do’ animal welfare: dab the eyes, blow the nose, quietly return to a blinkered world of battery eggs and cheap farmed leather<p>As a vegetarian animal lover, I would like to see something positive in the uproar over the killing of Cecil the lion, shot with a crossbow bolt by an American dentist for hunting thrills in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/28/killer-of-cecil-the-lion-was-american-zimbabwe-officials-claim" title="">Zimbabwe’s Hwange national park</a>.</p><p>However, I’m not sure how I feel about what appears to be hordes of self-glorifying mourners wailing over the fate of one beautiful animal.</p><p>Where are the &shy;anguished &shy;grieving hordes – the Cecil-huggers – when you need them?</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/cecil-lion-hunting-mourning-andy-burnham-obesity">Continue reading...</a>AnimalsAnimal welfareLabour party leadershipObesityWorld newsUK newsSat, 01 Aug 2015 23:04:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/cecil-lion-hunting-mourning-andy-burnham-obesityPhotograph: Anthony Devlin/PA‘The reasons for being very overweight can be extremely complex.’Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA‘The reasons for being very overweight can be extremely complex.’Photograph: Dave Thompson/Getty ImagesAndy Burnham: grilled by Mumsnet about his grooming regime.Photograph: Dave Thompson/Getty ImagesAndy Burnham: grilled by Mumsnet about his grooming regime.Photograph: TNS/Barcroft MediaProtesters from the Animal Rights Coalition and Minnesota Animal Liberation demonstrateBarbara Ellen2015-08-01T23:04:05ZBritain’s carpetbagger PM is a national embarrassment | Jonathan Eyalhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/david-cameron-carpetbagger-national-embarrassment
<p>David Cameron missed a golden opportunity to explain Britain’s position on the rise of China during his tour of south-east Asia</p><p>At first glance, David Cameron’s decision to pick south-east Asia as the destination for the first major prime ministerial visit of this parliament makes sense. It’s not only China or India that are rising fast, but also the nations of south-east Asia, so Britain must “grab opportunities” to trade with these “far-flung lands”, as Cameron is fond of saying.</p><p>Yet the prime minister’s whistlestop trade mission to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam was not a trailblazing initiative, as Downing Street’s spin doctors would have us believe, but just another reminder of the contempt the government has for the normal instruments of diplomacy.</p><p>Britain no longer appears to have anything to say about human rights or good governance</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/david-cameron-carpetbagger-national-embarrassment">Continue reading...</a>David CameronAsia PacificPoliticsUK newsWorld newsForeign policySat, 01 Aug 2015 23:04:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/david-cameron-carpetbagger-national-embarrassmentPhotograph: Edgar Su/ReutersDavid Cameron takes a stroll round Singapore’s botanic gardens.Jonathan Eyal2015-08-01T23:04:05Z‘If you hate the migrants in Calais, you hate yourself’ | Nick Cohenhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/why-fortress-britain-doesnt-welcome-refugees
<p>Over the centuries, we offered succour and shelter to the persecuted. Now it’s Fortress Britain</p><p>I looked at Salah Mohammed Ali and wondered how he would be remembered if he died trying to reach the shores of England tonight. It was not a fanciful speculation.</p><p>Since 1 June, 10 <a href="https://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/deaths-at-the-calais-border/">refugees have died</a> on the roads around Calais, at the port or inside the Channel tunnel. Their number included an Eritrean woman hit by a car last week on Calais’s urban motorway. A few days before, a Sudanese man had tried to jump on to the Eurostar. He misjudged the distance and the train smashed his head open. Worst of all was Samir, an Eritrean baby, who lived and died within the space of an hour. Her young mother fell from a truck heading to Dover. The fall triggered a premature birth and that was Samir’s life over before it had begun.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/why-fortress-britain-doesnt-welcome-refugees">Continue reading...</a>Immigration and asylumFranceUK newsEuropeWorld newsSat, 01 Aug 2015 23:04:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/02/why-fortress-britain-doesnt-welcome-refugeesPhotograph: /SIPA/REX ShutterstockWomen and children among the people hoping to make it out of the camp.Photograph: /SIPA/REX ShutterstockWomen and children among the people hoping to make it out of the camp.Photograph: /SIPA/REX ShutterstockTrying to keep warm.Photograph: /SIPA/REX ShutterstockTrying to keep warm.Photograph: /SIPA/REX ShutterstockLines of refugees in modern Europe.Photograph: /SIPA/REX ShutterstockLines of refugees in modern Europe.Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/ReutersMigrants gaze through a fence near the Channel tunnel access. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/ReutersPhotograph: Pascal Rossignol/ReutersMigrants gaze through a fence near the Channel tunnel access. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/ReutersNick Cohen2015-08-01T23:04:05Z